This invention relates to portable work-supporting devices such as sawhorses and the like and more particularly to devices of this character which can be knocked down to a compact form for shipment and storage and which can be easily assembled. Sawhorses, sawbucks and the like are widely used for various purposes. They are used in the construction field and in the home and in businesses to provide temporary supports for various materials and supplies, and in making scaffolds as by supporting a platform on a pair of sawhorses. They are used in the form of sawbucks to support workpieces. They are widely used as barricades on highways and parking areas and in crowd control. They are frequently used in temporary locations so that easy portability is important. In many instances they are stored between periods of use and it is important that they be capable of easy disassembly and assembly so that they can be stored compactly. Since they are frequently exposed to weather and rough service, they should be capable of withstanding inclement weather without damage and without corrosion. They should also be of material that is hard enough to resist damage by impacts that are likely to be encountered in use and that will resist splintering.
Sawhorses consisting of a horizontal wooden beam to which two pairs of diverging wooden legs are secured by nailing the upper portions of the legs to the beam have been widely used in the past. Such sawhorses cannot easily be knocked down. Sawhorses that can be knocked down have been made in which the legs are attached to the horizontal beams by means of bolts, screws, clamps or special brackets. These can be taken apart but not very easily and the clamps, bolts or screws that hold the sawhorses together were frequently lost or misplaced. Sawhorses of this character have beem made of wood, which is subject to splintering, warping and rotting, and of metal, which may rust and corrode and otherwise require protective coatings. The necessity for securing parts of the sawhorse together by screws, bolts or clamps makes them inconvenient to assemble or disassemble.